A Weiss Choice to Make
by WhoTaughtQrow
Summary: Ruby Rose has banded together with the remains of JNPR to follow the enemy and save the world. But to do this, she needs one special friend. Following on from Volume 3 finale. Potentially WhiteRose. I don't own RWBY, all rights Roosterteeth.
1. Chapter 1: The Mission Begins

**HELLO! Anyone who has read my stuff, small as it is, can say it has been some time...like...five years? I don't wanna check, it will make me sad. Anyway, after College and studies and stuff, I realised I have strayed from my creative path, and this is my return! Will I finish up some other stories? maybe, but I will have to re-think their direction. This is unedited, so please tell me any mistakes, my grandma...I mean, grammar is terrible.**

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It was a relatively calm night on the docks. There was no wind to disturb the perfect reflection of the shattered moon on the shoreline. The townsfolk were all nowhere to be found, not even the alleyway thugs and criminals that usually occupied the shadows. Then the peace was undone when four teenagers walked down the creaky floorboards that the docks were comprised of, gazing out at the harbour full of ships. "Are you really sure that this is what you want to do, Ruby?" Jaune Arc whispered as the cold night air made his breath visible.

"Certain. Without her, our journey will be incredibly difficult" the black and red haired girl replied from under her red hood, "I mean, she is a major powerhouse and probably being forced to stay".

"Yeah!" Nora piped up excitedly and bouncing, making the dock creak more. "I mean, I know you didn't see it Ruby, but she summoned this huge arm thingy that wielded a massive sword and she took out a Atlesian Paladin-290! She was all like 'Shwing! Shw-'".

"At-t-t-t-shush!" Ruby hissed at Nora, "Nora, what did we say about talking while we are trying to be inconspicuous?!"

"Right! Sorry…" Nora hushed, putting her hand over her mouth, but it didn't hide her smile she always wore.

"You're fine, just…be you but quiet" Ruby said smiling at her. Jaune placed his hand on Rubys shoulder.

"I know, but I mean, are you sure you don't want us all to go with you? I mean…" Jaune began to argue but Ruby cut him off.

"What we are about to do is try break our friend out of her family, one of the richest families in all of Remnant, and that involves going to one of the biggest companies ever founded and breaking into its highly secure facilities. But at the same time, we have a trail that leads to Haven Academy, and we don't know what we will find there or if there are any clues left there. So we can't waste time in going there either," Ruby began rattling off like she had at the meeting they had had before entering the town, "You and Ren need to get to Mistral quickly and begin looking for clues before it goes cold, and Nora and I will go and get Weiss, I think Nora's…'personality' will prove useful for taking on a rich company who probably have the best of the best".

"Yeah, yeah…I know, but just…be careful" Jaune said, coming in to give Ruby a hug.

"Yeah, we will be, thanks Jaune" Ruby said in a less serious voice, brightly smiling as they hugged, "And its ok, we won't be wasting time", she said while smiling, thinking of what she had packed in her bag to read on the journey to Atlas

 ** _-FLASHBACK-_**

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby squealed as he walked in her room as she lay in bed. It had been a little while since she had woke up after the Battle at Beacon, and she saw Qrow frequently, almost as if he was observing her. But, he and her dad still insisted she rest up and feel 100% before doing anything.

"Hey kid, how are you feeling?" Qrow said, smiling as he pulled up a chair and sat next to her.

"Next to useless and antsy that I can't do anything!" Ruby blurted out in frustration as she fell back down onto her pillow in defeat and closed her eyes.

"Heh, hey! Its not everyday a Huntress gets time to actually rest and not be battling" Qrow said, leaning back onto the chair's two legs and balancing perfectly.

"Oh, don't tease, Uncle Qrow! I could absolutely go for some fighting right now!" Ruby said,

opening her eyes with a glimmer of hope in them as she continued on, "Is that what you have come here for? To take me sparring? To go fight Grimm? To go somewhere?!" Ruby sat straight up and started bouncing in her bed in excitment.

"Heheh, listen Ruby," Qrow said, leaning forward and slightly hushing his voice, "That is not why I am here, I know you are feeling useless while you just lie here resting up, so I brought something that might be useful". Qrow dove into the satchel he brought in with him and pulled out a very old looking dark green book. Ruby's eyes widened as he handed it to her. "I just got back from Beacon. The place has absolutely seen better days and I nearly didn't make it back with the number of Grimm occupying the school, but I was looking for clues about Ozpin. Didn't find much, but this was interesting. I never knew he would have kept it".

"What is it?" Ruby said, turning the book over through her hand with delicate care.

"It's something Ozpin once gave to me. It's his book of fairy tales, but there is more to it than that. When he gave it to me, he had all these notes about the facts beyond the legends. He brought up links to actual events and observations of interest. Damn near taught me everything I know about all the strange stuff in the world. Heh, I added some notes myself, I'm sure you are welcome to too. But that's what I want you to do, Ruby. Read up on these fairy tales. That knowledge may help you understand yourself, as well as maybe save your life in the future".

"Uh…ok?" Ruby said, worried by the sudden seriousness of the discussion and opened the book on the page that had a bookmark in it. Her eyes widened when she saw the page title, "You mean…this is the fairy tale with the silver eyed people?"

"That was the closest I could find to any information Ozpin knew about it. It might prove useful, eh?" Qrow said, standing and taking his flask out and swigging from it heavily. "Don't try anything till I am around though. We will talk it through before you go trying to freeze a legendary Grimm again".

"You got it, Uncle Qrow!" Ruby said lying through her teeth, already engrossing herself in the book and trying to learn everything at once. Qrows eyes squinted at her, asking himself if he had made a mistake or not.

"Don't lose yourself in it, Ruby. Just take it slow" Qrow said with caution, as he pocketed his flask, "We don't know what you are completely capable of…"

"Yeah…yeah…" Ruby said, trailing off as she continued to read. Qrow back away to the door, still observing her.

"See you another time, kid…" Qrow said sadly as she continued to read, not even noticing him leaving.

 ** _-FLASHBACK OVER-_**

"You guys be safe too, and if everything goes to plan…" Ruby continued after thinking about what she now knew.

"And how often does that happen?" Ren said, folding his arms and raising a eyebrow.

"Well, I mean, if our part of the plan works, we will meet up with you at North Seaport in Mistral. You guys remember about the safe warehouse my uncle told me about?"

"Yeah, the Crow's Nest company warehouses. You told us how to get in to your uncles one" Jaune said, releasing Ruby from the hug, "But seriously, be careful. I mean, after everything that happened with Penn…"

"I know, and I promise we will both be there in a week" Ruby said, still smiling at Jaune as tears lightly welled in her eyes at their recent losses, "Just keep low and keep an ear out for any potential clues".

"You got it" Jaune said, brightening somewhat after the brief mention of the recently deceased "So we will stow away on the _Raindow Raider_ as it heads to Mistral and we will then head north for the rendezvous"

"Yeah" Ruby said, wiping her eyes, "While Nora and I stow away on the _Icy Comet_ so we can get straight to Atlas quickly"

"Oh, Ren I am gonna miss you, even if it is for a week!" Nora abruptly said, grabbing the young guy and picking him off the ground in a backbreaking hug

"A-and I you, Nora" Ren wheezed as he was brought back down to the ground, grabbing his sides for air, "You behave in Atlas, ok? They are very strict there, so no outbursts of flourishing disruptions right?"

"You got it!" Nora said, placing her hand on her heart, "I promise not to get us in trouble".

"That's my girl" Ren said, giving her a hug back.

"But not your GIRL girl, not your one special girl that you lo…" Nora started before she was cut off.

"Boop!" Ren said, with a small smile as he tapped her nose with his finger, "Come on Jaune, lets sneak aboard while the cloud covers the moon".

"Ri-right!" Jaune said with his usual confidence, following the boy ninja as he walked off towards their ship.

"Good luck!" Ruby yelled in a hushed tone as they walked off, "You ready, Nora?" Nora had a frozen blank look on her face from when Ren booped her "Nora?"

"He booped me!" Nora whispered, her smile returning to her face, "He never boops me! I always boop him! I mean, he never objected to them but, he never ever bo…"

"Alright, alright, come on, Ren was right about the cloud, it will make stowing away so much easier" Ruby said, dragging Nora after her. As the pairs separated towards their separate vessels, Qrow Branwen stood tall on the building behind them.

"Smart kid, Ruby" Qrow muttered to himself, swigging from his flask heavily before pocketing it, "Protecting your partner. You got guts, infiltrating one of the most powerful building on the planet, but I don't think you know the power of the Ice King himself". Qrow stretched his arms over his head and yawned, "You might have gone in too deep, Ruby. Don't worry, I've got your back if it gets rough". With that, he jumped from the rooftop, transforming into a crow and landing on the boats crow nest, settling in for a daylong journey to Atlas.

 ** _Schnee Dust Company International Headquarters, Atlas_**

Weiss Schnee was restless. She had been back in Atlas for a while now, and yet she still hadn't settled back. Sure, the city looked the same as it had before she left, but the atmosphere had changed. Ever since the Battle at Beacon and the last thing people saw being Atlas military striking down humans ferociously, people had been on edge. People were all in a limbo of how to feel. They were scared and untrusting of the military since the Battle, but they couldn't show their negative feelings in the fear of attracting Grimm. Walking through town felt so eerie, not that Weiss was allowed to travel around Atlas like a normal person. Upon her return, her father had paid for some of General Ironwood's best to follow Weiss everywhere, to know she would always be safe in these dangerous and uncertain times. To make matters worse, she had been forced into being the receptionist for the SDC International Headquarters. Every day seemed to be a repeat. Get up, prep for work, work, be escorted home by Winter, sleep and start all over. Weiss sighed, twirling a pen in her fingers as she sat at the reception desk. It was nearly closing time but she had nothing to do, other staff members were preparing to close for the night, while she just sat there with her two bodyguards watching at a distance.

Weiss lowered her head down to rest on the desk and she thought of her time at Beacon. She thought of all she had learned, and all of the people she had met. She thought especially of her team, but mostly of her partner Ruby. The last she had seen of Ruby while she was awake was when Ruby scaled Beacon Tower, the last thing she said to her being 'You can do this' and then a great explosion of white light happened from the top of the tower. From then on, her childishly extraordinary leader had been out cold. Weiss sat by her side the whole time they were flown back to Vales safe zone. She had then had an argument with her father as he forced her to return home, when she wanted to stay with her partner. Her thoughts however still lingered on Ruby. With no way to communicate with Vale, let alone the rest of the world, Weiss had no idea what had become of Ruby. She thought of the good times they had had together. Though both were rarely happy together at the same time, Weiss still thought of her brave partner. She really missed her. Then, Weiss felt something touch her hand. Weiss opened her eyes and was surprised to see a Zwei that could fit in the palm of her hand that was comprised of while glyph energy was nuzzling its head to her hand. Obviously, her happy memories had made her so happy; she had accidentally summoned it up. She smiled and patted the zweis head, imagining it was Ruby and continued to worry if she was ok on not. "Miss Schnee!" one of the bodyguards yelled from across the room. This however surprised Weiss so much, that her little Zwei evaporated.

"Don't go…" Weiss mumbled, before fixing herself up and standing to face the bodyguard, "Yes?" She yelled back with frustration.

"Your sisters car has just pulled up, shall we escort you out?" he said, pointing to the door. Weiss could see the luxurious, yet heavily armoured car that had belonged to her sister had indeed just pulled up outside.

"You shall" Weiss said, getting up and walking to the door. She stopped at the door and turned around. She looked at all the other workers who were working so hard to close the building. "Everyone!" She yelled to gather their attention. Everyone instantly stopped what they were doing and stood to attention and looked at her, a look of terror in their eyes. "I just want to say thank you, you are all doing wonderfully. That is all" Weiss said, smiling and then turning to follow the impatient guards out to her sister's car. Everyone was dumbfounded as she left. No Schnee had ever said a thank you directly from their mouth to any workers.

"And what was all that about, Weiss?" Winter asked formally as Weise got in the car.

"Well…now I see the effort people put in for us, I realize we need to respect them," Weiss said confidently, turning from her sister to watch the city life outside the car "Why do we have to be slave driving?"

"Well then," Winter said, a smile forming away from her sister so she wouldn't see, "Maybe you did learn something in Beacon…"

"What?" Weiss said, turning back to look at her older sister. Winter jumped slightly, not realising that Weiss had heard her.

"Nothing" Winter said quickly, and refocused herself to driving. Weiss looked semi-confused if she had heard her right, but smiled none the less. By the time they arrived home, dinner was already at the table ready to be eaten. A manservant came out to the car as they pulled up to the front door and opened Weiss' car door. "You go on in, ok?" Winter said, as Weiss exited, "I have to be back to work, Ironwood has something he wants to pass by me before anyone else, for some reason".

"Is…is father home?" Weiss asked with a hint of scare over hesitation. Winter smiled.

"As far as I am aware, he stayed at the office and didn't want a ride home. Its just you home alone".

"Thank god" Weiss sighed as she turned and walked with the manservant inside. She sat and ate her meal alone in the massive dining room. She began to feel the loneliness and sadness set in again, so she knew what she needed.

"I'm the loneliest of all" Weiss sang as she played the piano in the piano room of her home. She sighed. She loved that song so much and it usually helped her through the feeling that home brought to her. But not anymore. Not after her time at Beacon. She thought over the matter as she showered and got prepared for bed and just as she hopped in bed, the epiphany struck her. It was no longer just her loneliness that she was feeling, but also yearning for her friends she had made and loved so dearly. It surprised her greatly, but above all others, she missed Ruby. That dolt, that dunce, that childish leader of theirs. As she thought that, she smiled. She wasn't really that much of a dolt. If anything, she was the closest thing Weiss had to a…Her trail of thought ended there as she drifted off to sleep and dream of memories of Ruby and Beacon.

 ** _Atop a random roof, Atlas_**

Qrow stood atop a building in the docks of Atlas. The journey hadn't been too long, but he managed to fly off early and take a look around. Atlas felt different, certainly not like the last time he was here. He could feel the repressed fear everyone had as he watched over the city below. He looked at the boat he had just flown from and saw his niece and friend stealthily leave the ship that had just arrived. "Huh, didn't take you long" Qrow slyly said as he sidestepped at the last possible moment as Winter dashed forward jabbing with her sword. She brought the sword up to bring it down on him, but he was already defending with his sword.

"You've got nerve coming her without saying anything to Atlas military, let alone Ironwood" Winter said coldly as she pushed forward against his sword. Qrow forced her sword to slide down his and hit the ground and Qrow quickly stepped on it, pulling it from her hand to be trapped on the ground under his foot.

"I ain't here to fight, Ice Queen Sr." Qrow said, swiftly stooping down and grabbing her sword, "I need to ask you something". Winter was stunned. She was still trying to get over how quickly he had disarmed her, let alone the fact he just wanted to talk. "You still in there, Ice Queen? Or have you frozen over?" Qrow said, waving his hand in front of her face with a smile.

"What is the catch?" Winter said, quickly batting his hand away and recomposing herself.

"Huh, no catch, just want to talk" Qrow said, walking away to the edge of the roof, "How is your little sister?"

"What?" Winter said, confused about how quick the conversation was moving, "Hold up, what are you asking? More importantly, why are you asking it?"

"Your sister, you know her right?" Qrow said, turning back to face her, "Ice Queen Jr? Weiss? Ring any bells?" Winter glared at him and made a dive for her sword. Qrow easily dodged and moved away again. "Uh uh! Maybe after you talk. I mean, it is a nice sword, maybe I'll keep it…"

"Why are you so curious?" Winter said, appeasing him so far and crossing her arms as she backed off.

"Ruby wants to know, and with no Scrolls and communication, she's worried" Qrow said, putting on his best act of cover up why he was really asking. Winter squinted at him, still not believing him regardless.

"She's fine, is that sufficient?" Winter said carefully, standing to attention.

"Really?" Qrow said, raising a eyebrow, "I mean, as I saw it, she did not want to go back with the Ice King when he turned up in Vale to take her home". Winter advanced to Qrow to stare him squarely in the eye.

"Do NOT bring my father into this!" Winter yelled angrily to Qrow as she fronted up to him. She swiftly kicked him in the knee, forcing him to buckle down. She then made a glyph appear underneath him and it threw him away from her, as she ripped her sword from his grip while he collapsed to the ground away from her, "What do you really want, Qrow?"

"Geez…good move, sorry about touching then nerve, should have seen it coming" Qrow said, stumbling to his feet. Winter turned to leave but Qrow dashed forward and caught her shoulder. To his surprise, she did not slash it of in an instant, so he talked quick, "Listen, I know you really care about your sister and I am guessing you have seen her start to mature and make more adult decisions. I just want to let you know, she probably is starting to figure out where she wants to go and what she wants to do. Just…try and support her in her beliefs, even if you don't agree with them. Someone has to, especially so early on while people still have hope of peace and happiness. Especially so if the Ice King won't give her any hope".

"Why are yo…" Winter began as she shrugged his hand off and turned to question the thin drunk, but he was already running off the roof top and jumping to the streets below, becoming lost in the crowds. "That drunk!" Winter sighed as she too left the buildings roof; contemplating over the cryptic statements Qrow had given her.

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 **Hope you enjoyed! :) Hopefully more to come, I have an idea of the rest of the story :)**


	2. Chapter 2: Contact

**Second chapter! Hopefully some people are enjoying this story. I am enjoying writing it! Gives me something to think about at work...Anyway! Leave a review with any advice/feedback/corrections :) Thank you for reading!**

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Sneaking off the boat hadn't been difficult, even with the Atlesian guards uneasy with the world. Ruby and Nora had darted off through the alleyways into the empty streets. They hadn't anticipated this. Atlas was in a state of curfew, so no one was meant to be out this late when the ship had arrived. As they got to the streets, they saw a group of Bullheads flying overhead. With quick instinct, Ruby activated her semblance and tackled Nora back into the alleyway before they could be spotted. "Quick thinking Ruby, but I think we could have taken them" Nora cheerfully said, placing her hand on the handle of her faithful grenade launcher, Magnhild.

"I know we could have Nora, but we really shouldn't", Ruby said, grabbing her hand before it got there, "Atlas, let alone the whole world is in a state of terror. If we start a fight in the streets, that will just make people more afraid, and more Grimm will come"

"Yeah, I guess you're right" Nora said, placing her hands behind her back and hopping on the spot, "So what now?"

"Now, we wait till morning, find some different clothes and then make contact in disguise. If Weiss' father is a controlling and paranoid about Weiss' safety as she used to say he is, he will have people watching. Winter is probably here too, so we should keep an eye out for her" Ruby said, settling down on the ground in the alleyway, sitting cross-legged leaning on a dumpster. "So we may as well rest here, and then journey to Schnee Tower in the morning and make contact"

"Okey dokey!" Nora smiled, flipping over herself and landing in a starfish pose and then curled up by the front of the dumpster and went to sleep. Ruby chuckled; glad that she could still show happiness and enthusiasm during these uncertain times. Ruby pulled her hood up around herself and pulled out her scroll, which had now become useful only to use as data storage for things she had before the tower fell, but more importantly, a flashlight and used it to light up Ozpins book and read till she fell asleep. Morning wasn't far off, but they both got decent sleeps. They decided both to go shopping for new clothes as a disguise from what people like Winter would know them for wearing. That, and having slept next to a dumpster for the night had left them smelly and getting weird looks on the streets, giving them unwanted attention. Ruby went on to buy black jeans with red hems on the legs, a red tank top and a small dark grey vest combo with a black leather jacket that she enjoyed, and she obviously kept her ruby red hood, even though it was a obvious give away. Nora had found a short white dress that she put on with a pink leather jacket over top and dark pink tights underneath. After this, the girls went and walked down by the river heading towards Schnee headquarters. Ruby drenched her hood through it as they went past to get rid of the smell. Nora nearly jumped in, had it not been for Ruby reminded her of her promise to Ren. She pouted but smiled none the less.

"Ok, there it is" Ruby said, discreetly indicating to the skyscraper dwarfing all the other buildings. They were both in awe of it. The tower was huge, resembling a capital T. The top two floors were barely overhanging the building. The whole building was glass, bar the large Schnee logo made of white metal over the front side hanging from the top. The streets outside it were unexpectedly quiet with no queue waiting outside such a busy establishment. "I will go in an make contact, stick to the plan, come talk to me only if you get in trouble or trouble finds us, got it?"

"You got it!" Nora beamed, skipping down the road in search of a secure location to fit in with the plan. Ruby walked over to the front doors of Schnee Tower, took a deep breath and entered.

Weiss yawned. Today had begun as a quiet morning. All that had happened was ten people had brought in shipment forms, which she had then passed on to the retrospective departments. The most unusual thing was that two had been from the Atlas Military. I mean, they always came to the Schnee's for their dust, but these were different forms. She had grown up seeing these kinds of forms, being brought in to help at work in the busy season, but these were different. Acceptance forms for blueprints, theories of dust uses in mechanics, and other military documents. Weiss had no idea why they had been sent here and asked the people if they had been mistaken, but they assured her this was the right establishment. She had just begun to think about all this when someone came up to the reception desk, and because of her deep thought, she took little care of the person. "Welcome to Schnee Dust Company International Headquarters, home to the finest dust on Remnant, how can I help you?" She said absently, having been perfectly burned into her memory of how to greet new people at work since she was seven.

"Oh my Oum! They made you a robot!" the person had said, covering their mouth after making this absurd observation.

"What? Who do you think you a…" Weiss had begun in offense, losing her train of thought and friendly work ethics completely at the comment as she looked up. Her icy blue eyes locked directly with the mysterious silver eyes of the person draped with a red hood heavily covering their head. Ruby changed her hand from covering her mouth to a single finger placed over her own lips, following it up in hushed tone.

"Hiya Weiss, don't react too much!" Ruby had whispered, lowering the finger, "Pretend like I am someone you had gone to school with here you haven't seen in ages" Weiss was still in shock that the person she had missed the most had just turned up out of the blue, let alone insulted her. Weiss barely noticed her heart beat increasing just seeing this dolt of a leader turn up. Weiss quickly shook her head as she recomposed herself and processing what Ruby had commanded she did, assuming that she had a plan.

"Willow Woodstock, is that you? It's been years since I have seen you!" Weiss said loudly, pulling Ruby in to a hug, placing Ruby on the shoulder that was facing away from her guards.

"Suggest we go out for morning tea, we'll talk then, don't worry, we have a plan to distract the guards. I mean I assumed there are guards?" Ruby whispered in Weiss' ear as they hugged.

"Yes, there are guards. We? Who is 'we'?" Weiss whispered back, but Ruby had already pulled out of the hug, smiling. Processing this new command, Weiss played on "How have you been? We must catch up. Actually work isn't too busy, I may as well take an early morning tea. Mauve, can you please watch over the desk for me?" Weiss said, then casually indicating to a nearby Schnee worker who had simply been walking past. The worker nearly literally dropped everything and did as Weiss had said as she picked up her handbag from under the desk and linked arms with Ruby as they walked out. The guards had just noticed what was happening and scrambled up and found their guns in a attempt to follow the pair. "Now what was your plan with the guards, Ruby?" Weiss hissed to Ruby as they exited the building to which Ruby just smiled back to Weiss knowingly.

They turned out of the building to walk down the road, and as they did, Nora passed Ruby heading the other way, whispering "Rainbow Lollies Ice Cream Parlour two blocks down should be clear, I'll keep them occupied as long as I can, ten minutes at least"

"Right, thanks Nora, be careful and don't get arrested" Ruby whispered back carefully. They continued to walk down the road as the two guards came out.

"EXCUSE ME YOU TWO!" Nora screeched in a high-pitched voice to the guards, blocking them from continuing on, knocking them backwards slightly, and followed up with "Are you two from the Atlas Specialist Military I love the military, can I ask you some questions?" As the guards reeled back from walking into Nora, Ruby stopped abruptly, swiftly swooped Weiss off her feet to carry her and crouched slightly.

"Ruby! What are yo…" Weis started, before thinking about the predicament, assuming she was going to use her semblance, and hugged herself in close to Ruby at the last possible moment before they shot off down the street. Weiss caught a glimpse of what it looked like, and it was so peaceful. Everything slowed down to nearly a stand still as Weiss looked around at her leader. Ruby was completely focused on the task at hand. Weiss assumed Ruby had learnt so much in their short time apart, considering how serious she was taking the matter. Was it her taking the mission seriously, or was it a concern of Weiss' wellbeing? 'Why was Weiss even thinking about this?' Weiss thought to herself, as she looked at Ruby.

As they had shot off, the guard had recomposed themselves and looked for the young Schnee and her friend, but there was nothing left, except a faint trail of rose petals that were already blowing away in the wind. "I AM TALKING TO YOU, SOLDIER! I have questions!" Nora yelled up at the guards, to which they winched slightly as they scratched their heads, settling in for a difficult person to talk to.

Meanwhile, Weiss had closed her eyes again, only just realising that Ruby slightly smelt of trash as she held herself close to Ruby when she felt herself stop moving. She opened her eyes and saw that she had been placed down on a seat at a table for two, that Ruby must have just occupied the other seat as there she was, smiling back at Weiss as rose petals gusted away from her, but Weiss could tell she was hiding the exhaustion of using her semblance as she gently huffed and puffed for air. Weiss looked up at the sign above them that read 'Rainbow Lollies Ice Cream Parlour' and then back at Ruby, who had picked up the menu.

"I mean, I know this is a brief meeting, but do you think we should buy some ice cream as a cover?" Ruby asked from behind the menu, eyeing up the flavours. When Weiss didn't respond, she put down the menu and cautiously asked before being cut off, "Wei…?"

"RUBY!" Weiss yelled, leaping across the table hug Ruby. Ruby looked up in surprised horror as a smiling Weiss leapt at her. She crashed onto Ruby and the tumbled off the chair.

"Please…stop…" Ruby wheezed, as Weiss lay on top of her "Crushing…me…this…is strange" People were looking at the sight of a Schnee hugging a girl so hard that they fell off a chair.

"Right! I'm sorry, its just…I am so happy to see you, you dolt!" Weiss said, recomposing her self as she stood up, brushed dirt off her dress and sat back opposite Ruby, "Things have been pretty boring and lonely being back her, what are you doing here?!" Ruby had only just got back up, fixed her chair and opened her mouth to speak when a waitress came up to them.

"How are you doing today? May I take your orders?" she said, smiling at both of them with electronic pad to write on in hand.

"I…I will have the Chocolate Explosion Sundae please" Ruby said, smiling up at the waitress and then looking at Weiss guessingly, "and a…uh…Blueberry Frozen Yogurt Iceberg?" Weiss smiled and nodded at Ruby's choice, internally surprised how happy she was Ruby remembered her favourite ice cream flavour.

"Ok, we will bring that through in five minutes for you and your girlfriend" The waitress said, stifling a smile as she turned and went back to the counter.  
"Wait, girlfri…?" Weiss huffed at the waitress as colour rising in her cheeks, but was cut off by Ruby.

"Weiss, its so good to see you, even if you seem so sad about where you are, but don't worry. We are here to get you out of here" Ruby said, trying to stay focused and get everything said while they had time "Me, Nora, Ren and Jaune have left Vale to go find our enemies. Our only clue leads us to Haven, so you can come too? I mean, only if you want to, its up to you…" Ruby trailed off in the end, slipping back into her socially awkward side.

Weiss smiled, having missed the young dunces simplified lifestyle that gave her confidence in anything. "And how have you planned to get me out of here?" Weiss said, folding her arms.

"Well, its quite simple. We meet up with you after work with you packed up a small amount of stuff you need and then we make a break for it, stowing away on a ship heading to Mistral to meet up with Jaune and Ren" Ruby quickly explained, leaning back in the chair but still keeping alert.

"That won't work. Winter picks me up after work each day to escort me home. And I don't have Myrtenaster anymore" Weiss explained, a hint of sadness taking over.

"What? Why?" Ruby asked, her eyes widening, only just noticing that Weiss was without her trusty sword.

"Father, he...took it from me when we returned. He doesn't think I am ready for what the world is changing into, placing me behind all these forces of strength so I don't' have to fight for myself" Weiss burst out, tears welling in her eyes and thumping the table with her fist, "He doesn't understand I want to fight the good fight and that I can protect myself!".

"Ok Weiss, keep calm" Ruby said, looking around as people looked at Weiss again, "Where is it now?" Ruby said, eager to keep the conversation going to use their time wisely.

"Father put it in his vault while he is deciding to either disassemble it, or sell it off" Weiss said, trying to get a hold of herself as she wiped her eyes. She had become really emotional, with the happiness with seeing Ruby, the sadness of missing her weapon, and loneliness she had been feeling. Ruby noted this; impressed that Weiss was accepting emotions more openly and trying to get them under control so quickly.

"Easy, we go take it back when we come and pick you up then, how difficult can it be?" Ruby said, easing back into her chair again, putting her arms behind her head. Weiss scoffed.

"You dunce! Don't you know Schnee Dust Company is one of the top businesses ever founded in Remnant?" Weiss argued, folding her arms, "My paranoid, controlling, overprotective, half-assed caring father had the best technology around, how do you plan to break into the safe?"

Ruby smiled, "Why do you think I chose to bring Nora? We'll figure it out. You help turn the security off in the Tower as we storm through and get Myrtenaster back then high tail it out of Atlas, because I assume we will be like…most wanted criminals by then". Ruby seemed very happy with this news Weiss noted, so she decided to explore it.

"How can you sound so happy abo…" Weiss started when the waitress returned.

"One Chocolate Explosion Sundae," the waitress said, placing the huge sundae before Ruby, "And one Blueberry Frozen Yogurt Iceberg". She put the elegant blue ice treat in front of Weiss and smiled, "Now who is paying?" Ruby looked kind of sheepish as she pulled out her wallet and sifted through, obviously struggling to find the money to pay for the treat. Weiss sighed.

"You didn't think this part through, did you Ruby?" She said, pulling out her reinstated Schnee Dust Company card and waving it at the waitress' payment pad.

"Thank you Miss Schnee, have a lovely afternoon you two lovebirds!" The waitress said as she left smiling. Weiss opened her mouth as her face filled with colour, ready for an argument when Ruby interrupted.

"Weiss, we don't have time to argue with her, are you in?" Ruby said, holding her hand out for a high five in anticipation. Weiss cocked her head and gave it some thought before smiling.

"Ruby Rose, you have risked so much just to get me out of my version of Hell, how can I say no? I mean, represent Team Combat Skirts, am I right?" Weiss said, high fiving her leader.

"Well you are worth rescuing Weiss…" Ruby said lovingly mumbled, to which Weiss looked shocked Ruby had said that. Ruby quickly covered by saying, "Uh, by that…I mean…its absolutely worth saving the best teammate and partner ever! And yeah! Combat skirts!" Weiss, still shocked about what Ruby said, shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Just because I have been so emotional at your return, don't think I am going to be all soft now" Weiss warned Ruby, to which Ruby just laughed. Weiss pressed on as they ate their ice creams. "So tell me Ruby, what did happen in the Battle at Beacon? All I remember is telling you 'You got this' and then you climbed the tower and then a explosion of light?"

Ruby sighed, her smile slightly fading, "I don't remember, only that I saw Cinder shoot Pyrrha in the chest and feeling this huge rage inside of me and my head hurting…then it all went white. Next thing I remember, I wake up at home in Patch". Ruby then busied herself with the ice cream, eating it very quickly.

"You managed to stop that huge beast and you don't know how?" Weiss asked in surprise, "I mean you said you had a plan, I only guessed that was your plan".

Ruby laughed, having finished her ice cream "No, my plan was more along the lines of: Get Pyrrha and get out of there, try not to get killed".

"So no ideas what happened?" Weiss inquired again, noticing Ruby avoid giving an explanation.

"Well…" Ruby said hesitantly, "I…uh have a idea. My Uncle said Ozpin says some fairy tales are made up, but some are based on fact"

"And so what? You think a mystical legend saved you?" Weiss said sceptically as she ate her ice cream.

"No…well, I don't know for sure, but my uncle seemed to think I had been chosen to be a Ros…" Ruby argued when they both were loudly interrupted by a voice coming from the streets.

"Yes ma'am, we can assure you. The Atlas Specialist Military division have a very good dental plan…" One of Weiss' bodyguards said as they walked onto the scene.

"You had better leav…" Weiss started but only a gust of wind and petals met her. She looked around for Ruby, but all that was left was a hurried note

'Its really good to see you smile, Weiss. See you tomorrow after work! - Ruby' the note read. Weiss smiled as she tucked the letter away, thinking about how much Ruby had learnt since they first met. From a dunce and a dolt, to a reasonable leader and fri…

"Miss Schnee! There you are!" One of the bodyguards interrupted her thoughts, coming over to her, "Why did you run off without us?"

"Oh, sorry gentlemen, I was just so excited to see my old friend that we ran off in excitement" Weiss hurriedly lied, looking at the girl still following the guards.

"Well you better be right! Anyway, I had better be off. I will be applying soon!" Nora said in fake excitement to the guards, flashing a quick smile to Weiss as she turned and took off down the street. Weiss smiled, having seen another friend. Not an overly close friend, but a friend none the less.

"And where is she now?" The other guard said suspiciously, looking around the establishment.

"You just missed her leaving, I was just finishing up my ice cream whe…" Weiss said, but was cut off by one of the guards.

"Come on, Miss Schnee, lets get you back to your work, where you will be safe" he said, offering a hand to Weiss. Weiss moodily picked up her remaining sundae and walked off without his hand, in deep thought of what she had to do to prepare for tomorrow.

"How did it go?" Nora asked as she returned to the alleyway Ruby and her had slept when they got here, where Ruby was now waiting for Nora's return.

"She's in!" Ruby said excitedly jumping with excitement, Nora following suit.

"Oh yeah! Getting the old school friends back together!" Nora yelled as she hopped on the spot. Ruby looked sad, as she thought of the other two teammates. Yang, who had become distant and depressed with the world and wanted to be left alone, and Blake, who had run off without explaining why. Ruby was sure there must be a reason for that. It was upon thinking that that she froze when a unfortunately familiar voice spoke from behind them.

"Well what a pleasant surprise" Winter Schnee said coldly from the entrance of the alley, sword drawn at the two girls, "What are two girls last reported to be in Vale doing in downtown Atlas I wonder?"

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 **Oh snap! Winter is here to bring the ruckus! What will happen next? Who knows? :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Time For The Truth

**Yay! Chapter 3! now as I finished this and upload it now, I am really tired, so I hope it makes sense? I tried all day, so if it doesn't...well damn it! :-D I will fix it if someone points out any continuity issues or problems. I tried to cover how everything changes...Hope I did well!**

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"Uh! Winter!" Ruby said, deploying Crescent Rose into its scythe mode and holding it to face the Schnee, "What a surprise!" Nora followed suit and deployed Magnhild while menacingly smiling at Winter.

"I imagine it is a surprise, but it is nothing compared to my surprise when while I was fighting with Grimm to get a message from Weiss' bodyguards. Apparently she had run off" Winter said, slowly walking closer with her sword extended out to the two girls.

"Really?" Ruby said, her brain working on a cover story that was 100% believable, "Good guards are so hard to find these days…Is Weiss ok? We were just on our way to talk to her". Ruby re-evaluated what she had just said, and guesstimated that she had come up with a story that was somehow -10% believable, somehow incriminating them more. Winter smirked slightly, pressing on with the conversation.

"Yes. Apparently she disappeared in to thin air…leaving behind these" Winter carried on, holding a fistful of rose petals. Rubys cheeks filled with colour as Winter hurled the leftover petals at the two girls. "I'm glad you feel the need to kidnap my sister, just so you can 'talk' to her".

"Winter, I…" Ruby started, but was instantly cut off.

"Do you not think I realize how difficult it is for my sister, being under strict rule of our father? I had to put up with it too, while I finished studying and was forced to join the military as a best choice of something I could do and enjoy. Once I tried leaving and he cut me off financially, and that wasn't the worst he did!" Winter said, circling the girls with sword still in hand, "Weiss is still thinking about what she wants from life and I can guide her in what she should and shouldn't do. For now, her staying at home in peace is for the best. It gives her time to think what she really wants to do with her life".

"But don't you think she should find that out on her own, not repressed in a controlling family?" Ruby had blurted out before she could stop herself, Nora exclaiming in excitement at its sudden escalation. Winter shot Ruby a glare that could frighten the strongest of men.

"The exact kind of response I expect from someone of your family line" Winter said, coming full circle to face the girls again, "Weiss needs to be alone, do not contact her again. She does not need such childish hopes of freedom and uncontrolled happiness to fill her head again. Her leaving fathers side proved difficult for all of us while she studied at Beacon, let alone while she fought in a battle that left the world frightened"

"You're wrong" Ruby said, bringing Crescent Rose closer into her arms, "What happened between your father and you is different to Weiss. What she wants is nothing to do with such a man. She wants to travel as far as she can from him".

Winter laughed, "She is not alone in the notion, but there is very little space one can keep running to when avoiding our father. He is too powerful, protective, and controlling. He will always get his way when you leave. Weiss needs to discover that and find a way to limit her time with him, not cut him out".

"Then let her find that out in the real world, not locked up in a castle", Ruby angrily argued against Winter, the air between the two intensifying, "Surely he isn't that bad when you leave…". Winter sighed and cut in.

"I had hoped we could settle this maturely without having to arrest you for stowing away unregistered on a ship, kidnapping, and terrorist motives" Winter had said, "But it appears you want it the hard way. I expected too much from a fifteen year old" Rubys eyes flashed as Winter stereotyped her age as Winter dashed forward to strike the girls. She moved so quick, Ruby had to activate her semblance just to see her move at a speed she could react to. Nora was not so fortunate and was sent flying down the alleyway, slamming into the wall. Ruby managed to dodge low and swung around to catch Winters legs, but Winter was still too fast. In such a small space, Winter was too well trained for the two novice girls, even if they were pretty damn good. Winter had jumped up to a glyph on the wall and pounced back down at Ruby from above. Ruby barely had time to react instinctively and swung her scythe in a circle in defensive stance to reflect Winter back to the ground. Winter then landed perfectly on a glyph and sprung straight back at Ruby, swinging furiously. Ruby was barely managing to redirect each move safely to hit the ground. The specialist had so much more training than Ruby and moved at a great speed. From a nearby rooftop, Qrow observed the battle hidden in the shadows. He reached for his sword, unsheathed it and transformed it to its default sword mode. 'Ruby may not win this battle' Qrow thought as he readied himself to jump in at first signs of defeat, even though he did not want to give away the fact he was following his niece. Qrow leaned down to jump when the tides changed. While their blades were locked in furious swirls, Ruby and Winter failed to notice two things. One was Rubys eyes started glowing white as she sped up her defence, and the second was the small redhead who had recovered down the alleyway. She had climbed up the streetlight in the alley and punched the light bulb. Activating her semblance, she absorbed as much energy as she could and then leapt in the air. Wielding her mighty hammer, she brought it down on Winter while yelling "Ah-smash!" Winter managed to place one glyph in between her to catch the hammer and stop the blow, but she wasn't quick enough and the hammer broke through. Pink shockwaves emitting from where she had hit her. She fell to the ground like a ton of bricks, momentarily stunned at what had hit her. "I really hope that doesn't break my promise to Ren" Nora smiled, twirling the hammer effortlessly in her hands.

"Thank you…Nora" Ruby huffed, exhausted from the continued use of her semblance to be on par with Winter and eyes returning to normal, "I'll be…sure not to mention it to Ren when we get back. Come on, we can't win against her because she is too good, we have to run while we can". As they took one last look at Winter who was slowly twitching off the stunning she had got from Nora, Ruby stopped and said, "We didn't need to fight Winter. We just want to help our friend grow from what she already has, not have something else hold her back".

"Yeah, and get better soon!" Nora added, patting Winters head lightly as she skipped speedily down the alley, Ruby running after her.

"Y…yo…u…don't…understand…" Winter weakly said from the ground, but the girls had already gone, "He…is too...strong". Qrow smiled from his perch, reminding himself to never let Ice Queen Sr live that defeat down as he transformed once more into a crow and took off after the girls.

When it came time to go home, Weiss was so excited. The reason being that her leader and partner Ruby had risked her life some and take her away with her and the remaining members of JNPR to go on a mission to save the world. Weiss had spent the rest of the day thinking of all the things she would need to do to pull this off, but her chain of thought and mood had been broken when she saw something she rarely ever saw. Winter looking rather defeated and tired, maybe even hurt. Weiss ran out to the car, hopped in and anxiously asked, "Winter! Are you ok?"

"I'm…fine, just a little sore" Winter said, not looking up from the steering wheel, "Lets just get home, I am starving". Weiss was shocked to hear that Winter was coming for dinner, but also very excited. The drive was quiet the rest of the journey home, at which point Weiss ran inside upon arrival and told the cooks the good news of Winter's presence. Winter winced into the house and went to the guest bedroom she was always welcome to use when she had to stay over and lay on the bed.

"What happened?" Weiss said cautiously as she entered the room to sit on the chair at the foot of the bed, "Grimm have never gotten such damage on you before, even while you went to Atlas Academy".

Winter sighed, "No, just…a different enemy from work" she said, getting up and leaning on the headboard to look at Weiss, "So how was your day Weiss?"

Weiss hesitated for a second, thinking of the consequences if she told Winter she had seen Ruby, and straight after said, "Nothing much, same old boring work. You're lucky you never had to be a receptionist because it is terrib…" as Winter cut her off.

"Weiss, you really need to work on your lies…I know Ruby and Nora were in town. That Valkyrie girl is the one who did this to me" Winter said sharply, glaring directly.

"What?!" Weiss said, jumping up, "Why would they attack you? They like me! They had no rea..." But once again, Winter cut her off by holding up a hand.

"It was my fault. I tried to arrest them, and they resisted" She said, bringing her hands to her sides to massage her ribs, "It seems they really care about you Weiss, be thankful of that. Specialists are condemned to a lifetime alone". Weiss was shocked. Winter never spoke lightly of people who resisted her arrests, in fact she normally laughed at her stupidity. So when Winter told her she was in the wrong and the people getting arrested were doing good, she knew something was up. "Now tell me, what did she have to say to you, Weiss?" Winter carried on.

"She…" Weiss said, giving in defeated since the story had been uncovered, "She and Nora came here to whisk me away with them to join them in saving the world". Weiss realized how badly she had worded it, but went with it anyway. Winters eyes widened, before narrowing again to assess the situation.

"I see…and to which you replied?" Winter said, leaning forward. Weiss sat back down and looked at her feet.

"I…I kind of said yes?" Weiss mumbled. Winter leapt up and closed the door incredibly swiftly, reenergized and motivated by the situation and walked right up to Weiss. Winter took a deep breath, smiled and hugged her younger sister. Weiss was shocked at the surprise hug, but accepted it none the less.

"You really have been learning more about yourself, so it seems I am fooling myself thinking of you as still a child" Winter said, as Weiss could hear Winter slightly choke up in happiness, "Weiss, you have the courage and determination I have once had when I was your age. You're going against father's wishes so take heed, it will not be easy, if at all in fact, be possible".

"But you never…" Weiss began, but Winter still cut her off.

"Once, while you were still so young and I had started at Atlas Academy, I tried to run away from the family. I approached a Huntsman whose team was travelling from Vale through to Atlas and he accepted me and helped train me. Hell, we nearly fell for each other, even if he was a bit older than me. But we were only successful in travelling around Atlas for a few months. Fathers first move was cut me off financially, but I managed. Then we got to the docks. An Atlas Military specialist approached me. He handed me a Scroll and it was father. He was video messaging me and he told me if I were not to return home, he would have the one thing that he had that mattered to me killed. You"

Weiss was shocked by the information. Her father, her own father had used her as blackmail against her sister, let alone threatened to kill her. "The Huntsman I was travelling with told me that it had to be a bluff. There was no way a father could kill his own blood, especially at such a young age. Then father slashed you over your eye. It seemed like a nightmare. All I remember was seeing the footage of you crying, bleeding from your face and our fathers cold and stern face staring back at me. The next thing I remember, I was bursting through the front door to the manor. You were getting medical attention and father dealt with me. I leapt straight at father to attack him, proclaiming his insanity as loud as I could but in one swift move, he incapacitated me and told me the ultimatum. I was to stay in Atlas; I could live out my dream of doing good for others, but only through the Atlas Military as to keep me close and one day, he would force me to take over the family business. If I were to leave, you would be consequently either killed, or thrown out of the family to fend for yourself. I had no choice left in the matter. That Huntsman I travelled with briefly while avoiding father came back and I told him the situation. I told him to go, but he proclaimed a love in his heart for me and told me together we could overpower him and free you and I both from fathers rule. I told him to not, but he was so blinded by his love and enraged that Father had actually slashed at his own daughter, her went in to face him. They battled longer than I had thought, but soon after Qrow was thrown out. Beaten severely I ran to his side, but he stopped me. He told me I was spineless in my efforts to leave father. He agreed that our father is indeed cold and ruthless, but he said that you and me could have left and live a free life, if him and me had banded together and taken father down. I declined, still concerned for you, as you were not fit for a life on the road with huntsmen. You were at an age where you wouldn't remember any of this, but you were suited for the Schnee upper class lifestyle, not the on the road sort a Huntsman lives. So we both now hate each other for this decision. He still loved me but I cast him away. I did it so I could stay and protect you. He sees it as me trying to be a hero to save everyone from seeing the truth about our father and that I didn't value him enough, hence our fight you saw with him. He's was bitter about it, and me the same with his reaction. That's how I know so much about how to fight and how he fights, through our training we did once upon a time. I never knew he was always drunk until Glynda told me in Beacon. Apparently it had started not long after he left me. Never saw him since that day he called me spineless for saving you until Beacon." Weiss was so shocked by all this information. She rubbed her temples.

"All this time…father had told me the scar was from a complication in surgery during my birth, but he did it!" Weiss' eyes began to tear up and she kicked the bed, "I used to strive to be the best for him. To show him how good I could be, but now I…" Winter cut her off by pulling her into another hug.

"I know, and it feels so good to finally tell you this, but you must understand the most important part of the story; Father is too strong to beat, and too powerful to run away from. What you are attempting to do is indeed a impossible task". Weiss pulled out of he hug and placed a hand on Winters shoulder.

"But, things have changed" Weiss said, wiping her eyes with her free hand, "You don't need to give up what you want in life to save me now, we are both old enough to stand for our own beliefs". Winter was taken aback. She had never thought of this till now. Weiss was implying that if she were to stand with her against father, they might have a better chance to get their message across to him and actually get what they want.

"I…I want to believe that that could be possible, but even with me…I don't think we could defeat father. He is too well trained in our semblance…" Winter said arguing, but Weiss cut her off.

"You once gave your life to save me, now its time you got that life back" Weiss said, grabbing Winters hand, "Winter, I beg of you, help me stand against Father. You could be free to live your dream!"  
"But…it's been so long, I can barely remember what I ever wanted to do with my life…" Winter said, wandering off in thought, "Let me think about it".

"You have to think quick then, Ruby and Nora are coming to take me away tomorrow night. After work, we are breaking in to father's safe, getting Myrtenaster back, and leaving. You can be there if you want…" Weiss said, getting up as she saw Winter was deep in thought about the matter.

"Weiss, I…I am proud of you" Winter said, briefly smiling and snapping back to reality, "I…will be there tomorrow night". Weiss smiled and went off to check on dinner. After an Schnee feast to help Winter recover, the girls went upstairs and planned all they needed to do before the grand escape. Winter planned getting money out and transport, while Weiss chose their clothes, some food and resources. When they had prepared all that they could, Weiss followed Winter down to the guest bedroom. "Weiss, thank you" Winter said as they hugged as a farewell for the night.

"For what?" Weiss said, pulling out of the hug and staring at her sister.

"Being independent from this family. It appears that Ruby has softened you to the point where you can look at something and make your own opinion, not just have the Schnee first thought from upper class. She has obviously helped you build courage and strength of heart in your fight to free yourself from father. She really cares about you, I hope you care for her too".

"More than anything. At first she was childish and rude, but now…she has been trying so hard to learn more and become a great leader and partner. Sure, she still is a child, but she has come so far" Weiss said, walking away to go to bed herself, "I can't imagine having never met her…anyway, night Winter! Sleep well!" Weiss skipped off to bed, excited for what tomorrow held. Winter smiled, happy that her sister was so happy, but feared what tomorrow would bring.

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 **Coming soon, its all gonna kick off! :-D**


	4. Chapter 4: The Unexpected

**What a way to spend a Saturday amped up on RWBY! Ripped out this large chapter, so I may have overlooked some mistakes, I welcome the corrections. Almost forgot to write in a part I really hope happens in the show!**

 **I would however like to express my opinions on one part of a review. A awesome guest reviewer gave me great advice, but one part stuck with me. They claimed that Ruby was more sad then enraged by the time she reached the top of the tower and unleashed her silver eyes power. I disagree based on my opinion, so I am not saying I am right. I saw it more as a she broke down because of all the sad things that had been happening and the power was activated because she was like "ENOUGH!" and like snapped and got angry, thats why she clenched her fists before exploding light and opening her hands. I also felt like she was more angry with herself that she didn't get there in time as she states later to Qrow, like with Penny when she was too late to stop the fight. And I imagine she was angry at Cinder when she saw her, based off her reaction when she said "And Cinder!" later with Qrow and grabbed the blanket. Anyway, thats just me, but I feel the reviewer could have been right as well. I just always looked at it this way more. Leave a review with your opinion on the silver eyes power and say how you think it works. Lets just say, I may have written my interpretation for the relevant fairy tale about silver eyed warriors to appear later in the story...;)**

 **But anyway, enough babble from me, read onwards good reader! :) Correct me if I miswrote anything, or if some things don't make sense :)**

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As the sun rose on the two mischievous stowaways, it barely lightened the alleyway. Nora was the first to wake up, stretching her arms and putting on her normal cheerful smile. She then looked over at Ruby, who was cocooned in her red hood, with a small green book on the ground in front of her. 'Fallen asleep while reading again' Nora had thought. Contradicting to what Ruby thought, Nora was not an easy sleeper. She found it difficult to sleep with all the things she kept thinking of, like Ren and what he was up to at that point in time, all the things she had to think about for the mission ahead of them, and her usual sporadic imagination and all the thoughts that followed it. So she had often on their journey since leaving Patch hidden in plain sight as she watched Ruby read. 'It must be important' Nora continued thinking as she walked up to Ruby, extending a finger out to poke her to wake her up, 'She always has a great focus on her face as she reads, and its not a long book so its like she is reading the same parts over and over'. Nora stopped her hand before it reached Ruby however, lost in her own thoughts.

'She probably needs the sleep, which means she will be hungry when she wakes up! I shall go and find the breakfast of champions for us and then wake her!' Noras smile widened as she brought her hands behind her back and hummed to herself, 'I'm queen of the castle' as she darted off down the street. Merely ten minutes later, Nora had returned with two large helpings of pancakes, which had vanilla and caramel chunks in them with scoops of strawberry ice cream and chocolate sauce melting on top of them. Ruby was still asleep. Nora placed the towers of sugar down on the ground and looked at her scroll. They had slept in more than they had meant to, it was already 11:34am. So Nora put on her best adult mother voice and yelled out, "Oh Ruby! Breakfast!" Rubys eyes snapped open as the loud voice startled her. She leapt up and deployed Crescent Rose into scythe mode clumsily underneath her hood she was wrapped in, which cased her to fall over and nearly rip her hood.

"Nora!" Ruby said, as she unwrapped herself from her hood after putting Crescent Rose away, "We talked about this! You can just poke me to wake me up…" Ruby stooped down and picked up the book and put it in her bag.

"I know, but I didn't realise how late it had gotten, its nearly midday!" Nora said sitting in front of Ruby to eat her breakfast.

"What?! How could we sleep so much?" Ruby said as she pulled her breakfast to herself and started shovelling down pancake and ice cream, "We still have to scope out a escape route and make sure the boat is still leaving on time and…"

"Well I think it is good we had a decent sleep" Nora cut in as he had already finished her food at a record speed and smiled, "We need to well rested and have the best focus we can for tonight"

"Your right, it is good, but that doesn't mean we can give up on what we still have to do" Ruby said, licking her plate clean of chocolate sauce and melted ice cream, having also finished her breakfast in record time.

"You got it!" Nora said, saluting as stood and picked up Magnhild that had been leaning on the wall by the dumpster in hammer form and she transformed it back to launcher mode so she could carry it on her back. They both made sure they hadn't left anything behind before walking off through the streets. They walked back to Schnee Tower and then began planning out the best way to get back to the docks. They both agreed that it would suit best to stick to the alleyways to get to the river and then sneak through there to get out to the docks. They walked through the optimal route and checked the boating schedule while they were there. The boat was on schedule so they walked back to Rainbow Lollies Ice Cream Parlour to have an early lunch before going out to buy ammunition for their mission. "You know, I think Ren may really like me", Nora said thoughtfully on their walk back.

"What makes you say that?" Ruby asked back as he had been lost in her own thoughts before this question.

"Well I mean, we grew up together and would hang out with each other every day at whatever school we were in at the time. He always followed me when I would consequently get kicked out and we'd continue to the same school. Then when we got to Beacon, we managed to get into the same teams. He is still so nice to me and I haven't seen him with any other girls in the same way that he treats me, have you seen him with any other girls?" Nora said, getting louder and louder as she spoke out each new reason and faced right up to Ruby as she asked her the question.

"I…uh…" Ruby said, both uncomfortable that Nora was making more noise and drawing more attention to themselves from people passing, as well as stumped by thinking about the question. She had a good point.

"Exactly! I mean, either way. If they had done anything to hurt Ren, I would have at least broken their legs for hurting him! I think I could have taken on most girls…maybe not Coco. I mean, she has a really big gu…" Nora excited said loudly as she bounced away from Ruby, nearly jumping right into a short white haired and bearded man in a white lab coat who had been passing by.

"Nora!" Ruby said, grabbing her in the nick of time before completely bowling the man over and keeping them walking along, "Keep in mind we are still trying to be discreet?"

"Oh come on Ruby!" Nora said, getting out of Rubys grip she had on her, "We are in a kingdom we have never been in! What are the chances that someone knows us? They would have only seen us in the Vytal Festival anyway, and who would remember us from that?"

"Hey you! I know you!" a strong, but kind male voice yelled at them. They both froze and turned to see who had yelled at them. The short man who Nora had nearly bowled over had run after them.

"What did I tell you?" Ruby muttered in passing to Nora, who walked forwards to intercept the man.

"Hello there! I am really very sorry for nearly running into you. My father always said my head was always up in the clo…" Nora said brightly before he cut her off.

"Forgive me, but I was not talking to you. You're forgiven for the accident, but I believe I know your younger black haired friend. Are you Ruby Rose?" He said, placing his hand on Noras shoulder and looked at Ruby. Ruby was confused. She had never met a man who looked quite like him. He was fairly short, but very old. He had white hair, which contrasted, against his tanned skin. His bushy white beard worked with his green eyes to give an impression of kindness. Ruby did find his eyes familiar, but couldn't think of where from. He had a shocked expression on his face just looking at Ruby, as if he hadn't expected to ever see her.

"I'm sorry, I…uh…I don't think we've ever met" Ruby stammered, still slightly scared of being ratted out to the Atlas Military even though the man seemed so friendly.

"You knew my daughter while she visited at Vale for the Vytal Festival" He followed the comment up with, a slight tear welling in his eyes, "She never made it back to me, I knew she wasn't ready for…" That made Ruby click on to whom she was talking to.

"You! Your Penny's father!" Ruby said shocked, tears welling in her eyes as well. She ran forward at a fast pace and tackled the man with a hug. She was now fully weeping. "I am so sorry, sir. Please don't blame Phyrra. It really wasn't her fault. And I should have stopped the match, I had discovered what had been happening and could have got the match stopped. But I was too slow, I should have been faster, I am so sorr…" Ruby had sobbed sadly into the man, but she stopped when she felt him embrace her back and pat her head.

"I do not blame Miss Nikos, Ruby", he said, sadly smiling down at Ruby as she pulled out of the hug, "I blame myself. I knew it was too dangerous to put Penny into the public so soon. I should have tested more, let alone take into consideration Semblances along the lines of Miss Nikos. I am Geppetto Polendina, please come with me. Perhaps you can shed some light on cryptic last message she sent to me". Ruby nodded, glancing at Nora. Nora was shocked about who he was, but looked solemn about the situation and nodded.

"Its ok Ruby, I will go and buy ammo. Meet back at our 'sleeping quarters' at 4pm?" Nora said, understanding the situation entirely.

Ruby nodded again and whispered "Thank you for understanding" as she followed Geppetto. He led her to a very small innocent looking house that was on the shoreline. As he fumbled with his keys, Ruby looked up at it. For a man who had obviously been working with Atlas military and special scientists before, his home was very simple and not very expensive looking for someone who probably got paid well. As they entered, she were in awe of everything there. The house was very connecting, as in all rooms led through them. But that wasn't the interesting part. Every wall was covered with paper. Notes haphazardly stuck to the wall covered in technical schematics, scientific equations, blueprints and general idea generation notes. The house was an organised mess of technology. Ruby assumed that they were mostly experiments or at least concepts for a final goal. There were a few who vaguely looked like Penny in design that were placed in the corner. While Ruby looked around, particularly drawn to some weapon designs that were laid out on a table in what room she assumed was the lounge, Geppetto had brought a plate of cookies and a glass of milk and gave them to Ruby. She accepted them graciously, before losing her grace by hurriedly eating the cookies.

"My daughter did not lie about your love for cookies" The old man chuckled when Ruby finished, weakly smiling as Ruby stared back at him.

"How did you know?" Ruby began asking but Geppetto answered only by getting up and getting a thick scrapbook off a very full bookshelf. He handed Ruby the book and she opened it on the first spread. On the first page side was a photo of a slightly younger looking Geppetto standing next to Penny, who had yet to be coloured in, so she was just made up of white/silver metals. The next page was a photo of Penny with half her face painted. Her hair was red and her eyes were a royal blue, smiling at her father next her, who was laughing at splashes of blue and red that had gotten over her face. Ruby let out a small chuckle when she saw this, smiling knowing how innocent Penny was. She turned over the pages, revealing more of her and her father sorting out how she was to look. The last combination was the look she had when they had met. Orange hair and green eyes, the same colour as her fathers.

"She requested to have the same colour as me", He said to Ruby, smiling down at the photo, "She had said 'Even though I did not conventionally make her, she still was my baby girl'". The pages on from then were very mixed. They fluctuated from being pictures of her father spending time with her in various situations like eating ice cream together, tramping up a mountain, and other bonding trips, to official reports dictating Pennys reactions and practises in a testing fashion, like fighting, social interaction, and other things one would expect of a robot to be tested on. Then one page was a two parts of a letter. The letter was written by Penny, apologising to her father a for some sort of incident, the second part was a sketched drawing of her father.

"She didn't know how much of a risk it was to me", Geppetto said, seeing the part Ruby was reading in the letter, "She had escaped her cell, harmlessly might I add, when she heard from one of the guards that the Vytal Festival was happening in Atlas that year. She was just curious to see everything that followed it. The happiness and excitement everyone got from it. We found her wandering through festival grounds, with the biggest smile on her face. She came quietly, but she got a stern talking to from Ironwood. I, however, just sat there talking to her about all she had seen and my past experiences with the Vytal Festival in her room and she was so excited. She was literally jumping of the walls, we had to get some engineers to come in a fix up her room so it was even more reinforced". Ruby smiled at him, and then continued. The next page had her acceptance letter into Atlas Academy. The next few pages were expertly sketched drawings of students in Atlas Academy uniform, most of which were groups talking and having fun.

"She was so excited to finally meet some new people and make friends", Geppetto said, his smile weakening, "But Ironwood used all his influence in his school to keep people distanced from Penny. When he explained to Penny that she couldn't make any friends, she ran home to me here, absolutely shattered by what he had said. I didn't know that she could cry her liquid coolant out her eyes, but she did it. She asked me 'Why am I so different? Why should anyone treat me any different if I just want to be a normal kind and helpful person?' and I had to explain to her that she was to be the future of saving the world and that she might scare the world with what she was because they are not used to what they don't understand. She told me she understood, but I found her art books where she kept drawing people talking together and being friends from school. My heart ached as she did this. I knew it was not right to deny a child her right to make friends and confronted Ironwood myself with the matter to which I got a different response. He was agreeing with me and told me he planned for her to go to the next Vytal Festival in Vale, but that I was to stay behind so she could learn more about people and how to read them and to test her independency from me. When I came back and told her, she was confused. She was excited about going to Vale to fight in the Tournament, but sad that she would be leaving me behind. I told her I would call her each day to see how it was going. The next section was a collection of pictures. They didn't seem to be of anything special, but Geppetto then explained, laughing.

"Penny sent me these the day after she landed in Vale. She took photos of anything that she could. She was so excited when I talked to her that night, I can only assume she was shaking with excitement as she took all these photos". The photos were all of everyday items, like a trash bin and a streetlight, all slightly blurred and off angle. Ruby smiled, tears forming in her eyes at the memory of her unique friend. She turned the page and her eyes widened. It was a perfect sketch of her face drawn in red pencil. "When we talked that night, she could not stop talking about you. Even though your first encounter was brief because two of your teammates were arguing she said, she was over the top with joy to have her first proper friend".

"She…drew these pictures?" Ruby choked up slightly as she flicked through the next pages. They were filled with the people she met in Vale, Team JNPR, SSSN, CFVY, and of course RWBY. All members had been drawn in their element, but there were significantly more pictures of Ruby. The night at the docks, looking for Blake, stopping the truck, explaining she was a robot, and hugging Ruby soon after that. All of those moments had been drawn perfectly.

"Penny loved drawing", Geppetto said, smiling once more, "She knew should could have just printed stills from her footage, but she felt concerned with memory. She always said 'Memory is the key', 'Memories make people unique', and 'I have to back myself up because I may be prone to memory issues', which is potentially true in her case as a robot, but I think she just loved emotions, especially happiness. She loved thinking back to when she was happy, which inspired her to work towards preserving those memories". Ruby began to weep as she go to the part where Penny had drawn team RWBYs first match in the Tournament, followed by them laughing together after Pennys second to last match. Ruby then had a realisation. "Penny! She…She wanted to stay at Beacon!" Ruby blurted out as she dried her tears, wiping them on her jacket sleeves.

"Yes, I know this part of the story" Geppetto said, his face falling when she brought this up, "She told me she of this plan".

"She never got to tell me the plan…" Ruby explained, closing the book as she reached the last page used, which had the broadcast picture of her being decapitated from the tournament, "She told me she had a plan, but never got to tell me because she had to leave with her partner".

"She was never meant to be chosen to go onto the finals round" Geppetto said, thumping his fist onto the lounge table, slightly frightening Ruby, "I told Ironwood to not let her be chosen into the finals, but he thought differently and chose her to participate in the finals without asking me". Geppetto got up and walked over to his computer screen he had situated in the lounge for displaying technical data. He brought up a video and prefaced it by saying, "This is the message I was sent before Penny went on and fought Miss Nikos". Ruby watched, weakly smiling as Penny appeared on screen.

"Salutations Father", Penny said, doing her signature wave at the camera. It looked like she was recording the video from her Scroll in the preparation room on the Amity Colosseum, "I have just been informed I am to compete in the finals to represent my team. I know you said not to but Ironwood insisted, saying I have the potential to become the winner! Can you imagine it Father? Just the thought is so exciting! Not because of the fame, just so everyone can be happy they saw a good match". Ruby lowered her head; all the things Penny was saying caused her to cry again.

"Now Father, I have a matter I want to tell you about" Penny continued as Ruby silently wept, "I…I have decided I want to stay at Beacon" Ruby looked up at the sudden outburst that Penny had just had. She looked as if she had to say it, she had been contemplating the idea for a while and couldn't keep it to herself any longer. "I know the idea sounds crazy but I have been thinking about it a lot. I have made the best friends anyone could ask for here and I don't want to leave them so I have made a plan. After the Tournament, I will come back home, but I have recently been working on backing my whole mind up onto a Scroll. It has been incredibly difficult to work out, but I believe I have sorted it out. I have had to compress it down and encrypt it so it can actually be stored on a Scroll, but I won't be able to be active until you activate it. So I will hide it on my friend Rubys Scroll and then all you need to do is come and visit Beacon so you can activate me in a new body, once one is made". Rubys eyes widened as she looked from Penny, who was looking very serious on the computer screen, down to her own Scroll, which she had just pulled out of her pocket.

"I know it is dangerous to have two of the same minds existing and that you will need to find a new body to leave here in Beacon, but I can't live without you Father, but at the same time I cannot leave my friends as well. They have been so kind to me, and simply having them has made me happier than ever. I will keep in sync with my double in Atlas when I sleep so you know how it is going here. I managed to sneakily upload my consciousness secretly to my friends Scroll, but I intend to tell them after the Tournament. It seems that Tournament has become a stressful time for my friend. Her sister just broke one participants knee. My sensors didn't detect anything unusual, but I did sense someone using a strange Semblance that may have been inter…"

Penny was interrupted by Professor Port speaking on the intercom stating, "All finals participants please report to the arena, the first match is about to be drawn. I look forward to talking to you tonight Father! I believe people say 'wish me luck'; at least that is what I have learned. I hope what I have planned hasn't torn you to pieces. Farewell Father!" And with that, Penny ended the call with a wave and a smile.

Rubys mouth was hung open by the end of the message. Penny had managed to stealthily put her consciousness on her Scroll. The only time she thought Penny may have had time to do that was when Penny flattened her with a hug after her double round fight. "All this time, I thought that plan was wasted when communications between kingdoms fell, that I would have no chance to find you', Geppetto said softly, barely coming to terms with the news that Ruby had her Scroll. Ruby turned to look at Geppetto who was staring back at her.

"Does that? I mean, do you really think she…" Ruby started asking, but Geppetto had a blank face "Are you ok, Geppetto?" Ruby asked getting excited, "I have the Scroll right her, and it may contain your daughters mind on it!" She handed the device to Geppetto, who was gobsmacked as he looked down at the phone, scrolling through some files, quickly accessing the hidden folders.

"My clever little girl…she actually did it!" Geppetto yelled as he punched the air and quickly moved to the computer and plugged the Scroll into it, "Its all here, in such a organised link packaging system. It would have taken me decades to invent this…"

"But will it work?" Ruby said, leaping over to the computer as well. The computer came up with all the files scattered, but Geppetto had already begun opening programs and then the screen was filled with a loading bar. Geppetto exclaimed loudly and leapt up from the computer, preforming a small jig in celebration.

"It's working!" He said, dancing about the small house, "I mean, its going to take some time to become delicately unpackaged and then sew it back together but she left very specific instructions, so I am confident we will see my little girl again yet!" Ruby collapsed to the ground, overcome by joy her tears had turned into tears of happiness.

"But what about her body?" Ruby asked, as they both had sobered up from their happiness after a small dance, "Will Ironwood let you make a new body for her?" Geppettos expression changed from happy to sombre in seconds.

"I am no longer associated with Ironwood and the Atlas Military. They seized all my research and have taken it to the Schnee Dust Company to work on a newer version of Penny. Probably a more militaristic, cold hearted version of her. Ruby could not imagine a Penny who was strict and no nonsense. Then Ruby clicked on about what was happening that night. The whole rescue mission with Weiss and stealing back her sword.

"Geppetto…I think…that is to say I heard rumours" Ruby cleared her throat and stuttered, covering her tracks carefully as she could, "Rumours of people planning to break into Schnee Tower tonight…would you like me to see if I can find them and have them get rid of your research?" Ruby was clearly not good at covering her tracks convincingly as Geppetto smiled and laughed.

"My dear girl, I was wondering why you were in Atlas. Here to retrieve your teammate no doubt?" Geppetto said as he peered at her.

"Yes sir" Ruby mumbled in defeat

"If you are willing, my dear girl, absolutely. Then I will approach them and make sure the project is done right, I promise you" Geppetto said, folding his arms and smiling at her, "But I am afraid I will not have a body built in time before you leave. You must come back to visit Penny when she is built!" Ruby laughed.

"I get the feeling I will never be welcome back to Atlas after what will happen tonight" Ruby replied smiling back to Geppetto.

"I suppose your right, ok then, well don't let me keep your Scroll. I will leave the files on there as a reminder", Geppetto laughed as he disconnected the Scroll and passed it back to Ruby, "Now I believe you said you would meet your friend at 4pm? It is nearly 3:45pm".

"Ohmigosh! I've got to go Geppetto", Ruby said in a hurry, grabbing her Scroll off Geppetto and giving him a hug, "Thank you Geppetto, tell her I said 'Hi' when you make her".

"I will, good luck Ruby Rose", Geppetto said, smiling as she sped of in a flurry of rose petals that caused the papers covering the walls to rustle.

Ruby arrived with barely enough time to spare. Nora was waiting in the alley with three very large bags of ammunition. "Nora, do you think we need this much?" Ruby asked as she approached the alley.

"You can never have too much ammo", Nora replied simply, attaching ammunition belts for her grenade launcher under her jacket diagonally over her body and around her waist. Ruby agreed and began loading up as well. When they reached Schnee Tower, it was all powered down. It seemed that all the workers had all gone home early. Ruby and Nora walked to the front door and hid by the sides of them as two guards and Weiss exited the building.

"This doesn't make sense", said one guard to Weiss and the other guard, "Winter said she was just around the corner and would be here when we got outsi…"

As the guard was finishing his thought, Nora leapt out from hiding and swung her hammer and hit that man squarely in the face, sending him flying back into the building and landing crumpled in front of the reception. Before the other guard managed to react, Ruby activated her Semblance and sped up to him, kicking off his face and forcing him back into the reception, when her tumbled over his partner and both were dealt with.

"Well timed execution…perfectly placed strikes…It seems you are getting better at leading each day, Ruby" Weiss said as she watched the events unfold. Ruby blushed and quickly retorted.

"Oh! Uh well…um, look who's been becoming more of a mushy feely human?" she said offered back questioningly, smiling wickedly. The comment made to Weiss only slightly offended her, but that couldn't hide the subtle hint of red rising in her cheeks as she stifled a smile. Suddenly, Winters car came down the road and pulled up by the three girls. Ruby and Nora both drew their weapons out, unaware of the new ally. Winter got out of the car and looked at all three of the teenagers, one eyebrow raised.

"I guess you haven't told them that I approve of their plan?" Winter said, pulling out two decent sized backpacks full with clothes, resources, and supplies they would need for the journey.

"She's with us now?" Nora said, transforming the hammer back to its grenade launcher self.

"Yeah, the situation was complicated, but if we both leave it becomes so much simpler" Weiss said, using one finger to lower Crescent Rose from Rubys stance.

"Well then, the more the merrier!" Nora said, cheerfully going up to Winter and punching her arm jovially which made Winter sway, "Sorry about hitting you into submission before, Winter. Hope your ok!"

"It takes more than that to take me down I assure you, Nora Valkyrie", Winter replied, giving a slight hint of a smile, "Guards taken down?"

"Yes, lets get inside then" Winter said, walking through the front door, followed by the three other girls. Winter dragged the two men into a storage cupboard while Weiss locked the building down.

"This way, there will be no surprise entries of interfering people", Weiss said to Ruby as she locked the door down, a metal shutter coming down over the door and windows.

"Ok then, so what is the quickest way up there now?" Ruby said, looking from Weiss to Winter in anticipation.

"You mean you didn't look to find out before you began this escapade?!" Weiss angrily said, grabbing Ruby by the shoulders as Winter sighed, "You dolt! Just when I thought you were getting better at leading…"

"Hey! We had no way to get the building maps, and we have no time to wait around, we need to get to Haven to follow any trail we can find", Ruby replied, shrugging Weiss off her shoulders, "besides, it can't be that complicated. We will just take the lifts".

"We can't", Weiss said, still fuming, "They shut down at night and only activate when the first to arrive in the morning does".

"Stairs it is", Ruby brightly said, making off towards the stairs.

"Its not that simple, Ruby" Weiss said, hurriedly explaining "The stairs split by section of the building. So once you get to the top of the level section above us, you will need to get to the other side of the building to get up through the next level section stairwell. So on and so forth. The building is currently split into Reception, where we are now and the next is Dust Experimentation, then Military Dust Experiments, then Administration, then Vehicle Experiments, THEN you get to our fathers top two levels".

"Uh…you what?" Ruby said, lost in the explanation.

"Each different area of research separates the stairwell that keep going up" Weiss explained, dumbing it down for the younger girl.

"Sounds straight forward to me, follow the stairs and get to the top" Ruby said shrugging and she smiled back at Weiss "Sounds more like a hindrance for a fire though. No way straight down…"

Weiss sighed. "Well, I mean, its not difficult, its just…you needed to know before leaping in" Weiss said in a caring tone to Ruby, to which Ruby smiled back.

"Ok, now I haven't heard anything through the military that will concern us so it should just be a straight run up to the top floor", Winter said, wanting to get the mission over quickly while they still could. They all nodded but Weiss looked uneasy. "You ok Weiss?" Winter asked, concern coming over her face.

"Yeah, its just…I don't have a weapon and I know it sounds silly, but I just don't feel as safe without one, even if we are here alone…" Weiss mumbled to Winter, while the other two girls walked over to the first stairwell.

Winter sighed, "You had me worried, look. Here is what I'll do". She drew her own sword and deployed the hidden dagger and gave it to Weiss, "You can hold on to Eiszapfen for me until we get Myrtenaster back, and I will just use Datura for now". Weiss looked up at Winter, smiled and gave her a quick hug before releasing her and nodding back to her.

"Ok, thank you Winter" Weiss said as she smiled. They rejoined with the other two, and began to walk up the stairwell. When they reached the last floor, Winter told them all to stop.

"I will go in and check if its all clear, you guys follow me afterwards", she said as she opened the door with her sword. The level was large and open, but full of desks covered in scientific equipment. Rainbows of Dust were kept in jars, beakers and test tubes all over the desks of experiments in progress. There was no one in sight so Winter motioned the girls to follow her. They had managed to get halfway across the level to get to the other stairwell when two things happened. The first to happen was all the jars, beakers and various other glass containers on the level began to shake and clink as the whole level reverberated, followed closely by light pouring in through all the windows in front of the group. The second was a explosion going off below them. Atlas Military had arrived. They flooded in down on the reception level and their Bullheads deployed Atlas drones in through the windows in front of them to protect the stairwell. They were, as it certainly look like, surrounded.

* * *

 **Yay! Penny may be coming back! :) Maybe sooner than expected...**

 **Ok, so when I said 'Its going to kick off', the kick off was kind of brief in this chapter, but the next one will be bigger! I mean, how are they gonna get to the top if Atlas Military have shown up to stop them?**

 **Hope you enjoyed! :)**


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